Automatic or semiautomatic beverage machines for domestic or commercial use (vending machines) have a brewing assembly comprising two mutually mobile portions which open to receive a food product, for example coffee powder (loose or packaged in capsules or pods), and to adopt a closed position in which pressurised hot water is fed through the brewing chamber in order to extract aromas from the food product loaded therein and to produce the beverage.
These machines also have a boiler for production of the hot water, fed by a pump in order to achieve suitable brewing pressures.
EP 0931491 discloses a brewing assembly for a coffee machine of the type mentioned above, in which the boiler is formed in one piece with one of the portions of the brewing chamber so as to reduce thermal losses.
In brewing assemblies of this type, in particular which are intended for the production of espresso coffee, the water is fed at a relatively high pressure of approximately 8-15 bar. These high pressures generate high stresses in the brewing chamber and it is therefore necessary to provide a suitable support structure onto which the stresses can be unloaded during the brewing phase.